Urban Decay Alice Through the Looking Glass Eyeshadow Palette ($60.00 for 0.80 oz.) includes twenty eyeshadows–all “brand new” according to Urban Decay–arranged by character, going down in columns. Visually, it doesn’t seem like an immediately comprehensive palette, but I think you can get a variety of looks out of it afterall, though they will skew warm or otherwise brighter and more colorful. There are a couple of shades that seem more than similar to past shades released by the brand (Duchess is the worst offender). I wish they would have opted for either Looking Glass/Lily/Royal Flush and added a light and more mid-tone beige or taupe shade for transition and highlighting (on different skin tones). The more shimmery shades in the palette were really nice, but the more colorful, more matte shades were dusty and thin and require primer to apply well (personally, I didn’t find UD’s primer sufficient–they needed a stark white base). Worth noting, the colorful mattes have a thinner consistency that makes them less blendable next to the denser shimmers (there’s a disconnect in how they smooth over one another). Dream On really only functions if used with a damp brush or over an adhesive base. The third row is exceptionally good, and I really wish the rest of the palette was that impressive, so it leaves me with a myriad of feelings, because there are some really amazing shades in the palette… and some real misses. The palette will be available at Urban Decay on May 1st and other retailers to follow after that.

Heads Will Roll is a bright, medium blue-teal with cool undertones and a gold micro-sparkle over a matte finish. It is mostly matte in reality, as the sparkle gets lost and drops during initial application (or gets stuck between the brush bristles). It is silky and finely-milled but dusty and thin, so the color does sheer out when applied to the skin without a lightly tacky base–again, the brand’s own primer didn’t amplify the color much more than it appeared on bare skin, but it did make it appear more even and less dry on. It lasted for seven and a half hours on me. MAC Robin's Egg (LE, $17.00) is less shimmery, darker, warmer (85% similar). Make Up For Ever S234 Azure Blue (DC, $21.00) is less shimmery, darker (95% similar). Colour Pop Runnin' Thru the Six (LE, $5.00) is darker (90% similar). Colour Pop Ibiza (LE, $5.00) is more shimmery (85% similar). Make Up For Ever D236 Lagoon Blue (P, $17.00) is more shimmery (85% similar). Natasha Denona Powder Blue (84V) (P, $29.00) is less shimmery, darker, more muted (85% similar). Kat Von D Hyperballad (LE, ) is darker, cooler (80% similar). See comparison swatches / view dupes side-by-side.

Bandersnatch is a subdued, dark blue with cool undertones and a matte finish. It had semi-opaque pigmentation paired with a very lightly dusty texture, but it wasn’t as hard to work with as some of the other colorful matte shades were. It lasted for eight hours on me. Inglot #336 (P, $6.00) is cooler (90% similar). LORAC Navy (PiP, $19.00) is darker (90% similar). Smashbox Azure (LE, ) is darker (90% similar). Sydney Grace Nightfall (P, $5.00) is lighter, cooler (80% similar). See comparison swatches / view dupes side-by-side.

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108 Comments

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Your eye looks are gorgeous! Thanks for going so in-depth on every shade. The tiips on how they applied will be coming in handy. I always loved UD because the did a great job with purples, blues, and greens, but they seemed to have dropped the ball on this palette. 🙁 If I weren’t crazy for Alice and butterflies, I’d pass on this. As it is, I’ll be a sucker and get it anyway.

Urban Decay is whispering in my ear, saying: ” I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.” And I’m screaming back: ” No, no! Leave me alone, I’m supposed to get a Tom Ford palette this month! And, an, Alice isn’t as good of quality!” UD then says: ” But look at those utterly marvelous, splediforous eye looks Christine did up there, and tell us again why you are *trying* to turn us down? Are you really so sure?” Ugh!!!! This palette had me losing my mind!???

Considering that I’m up to my eyeballs in neutrals, quite a few of which dupe these neutrals…it really *was* the the fun shades I loved until I saw how poorly they swatched. Even then, I do have Vice 3 and MUFE 15 Artist Shadow palette, MAC Aquadisiac, so I likely wouldn’t want this unless I were a collector or low on neutral shades. Or a MAJOR Alice fan.

Wow, the mattes look really sad next to the shimmer shades 🙁 I know UD has been criticized for not putting some mattes in their kits, but gee, rather have an A shimmer shade than an F matte one. It’s too bad as there are some interesting shades in this palette, but I will skip and check out the dupe list .

Wow…this is the first UD eye shadow palette release in a long time that I’m pretty sure I’ll pass on. Actually, I wasn’t remotely interested in it — given the ridiculously bulky and excessive packaging and a color selection that doesn’t grab my attention — but your “A” rating on the third row gave me pause. But then again, none of those colors are calling my name either (they are all too warm and dupable). Thanks for the thorough review.

BTW “Dream On” reminds me of that God-awful shadow from the Kat Von D Star-Studded palette which I think was called “Gothica”.

I have dupes for practically half the shades in this, altho I do love the blues and greens in this. Metamorphosis though is very sad, as expected. I wonder if UD just changed the name of some shades to better reflect the theme but that’s deceitful to say they are ‘all new’ ?.

Based on what I know of UD, I don’t think they just renamed anything that was existing, but I think they may gravitate more towards certain types of shades and ultimately some overlap more than others.

I think you’re probably right, though oddly enough, their first Alice palette in 2010 was made up entirely of renamed shadows from their permanent collection or from recent Book of Shadows palettes. That was back when Urban Decay was releasing palettes that contained more permanent collection shades than exclusive ones though.

Yeah, and I think UD was pretty upfront about them being renamed then, so that’s why I give them the benefit of the doubt of inadvertently duping vs. intentionally duping and being shady about it, you know?

I don’t think UD is being shady either but somebody in creative loooooves fireball lol When I saw the Duchess swatch I kinda did the side-eye. It’s pretty dang close to the shadow AND highlighter. I have both so it’s not like I’m opposed. Too bad there are so many misses here. It’s probably a good thing since I’m drowning in UD palettes but they did create some beauties here too!

Thanks for reviewing this! I love Time, Mirror, and Paradox. I am also relieved that Heads Will Roll wasn’t as bad as I feared it would be! I am quite disappointed by Metamorphosis, Hatter, and Dream On (it looks like nothing will save that one!). Despite the under-performers, I am still planning on buying this one. I am hoping that NYX Milk will help with some of them. What did you use as a white base when testing them, Christine?

Oh dear – I feared Dream On would fare badly and it did – an F. Thanks for such clear photos which answered the question I had – was the bevelled metal “edge” on each of the pans an optical illusion? Your photos show it is. Some lovely shadows in there but I’m going to look for dupes of Dream On and several others.

Still want to get it, lol! Do you happen to have any idea on when this palette will launch internationally (e.g the UK)? I don’t know whether I should try to get the palette through a friend in the USA, or try the UK shops (I live in Europe and will be in the UK next week).

I found out that Sephora ships to the Netherlands for 10 euros if your order is more then 75 dollars. I find that very reasonable! (So apart from this palette you just need to find another item worth 15 dollars, I think that must be possible 😉 ) You could also order together with a friend for instance and share the shipping costs. Hope this was helpful. 🙂

Hi Anneloes, I know you were asking Christine whether she knew when the palette was going to launch in the UK and since she didn’t know I thought I could try to help! I went and asked my local urban decay counter the same question last week and they said they were holding an alice through the looking glass event on the 5th may where the new collection will be available to purchase. I’m not sure if that’s the official release date or not, but that’s when my local counter is getting their shipment in. Hope that helps xxx

“All new shades” from UD might be appealing for some, but I do miss the classic UD shades. And it does make sense that this palette would be very different from the other Alice in Wonderland palette, but I sadly missed out on it. It included some of my all-time favorite UD shades: Last Call (Queen), Maui Wowie (Wonderland), X (Muchness), Mushroom (Mushroom), and Sin (Drink Me, Eat Me).

I really like the second look you did, Christine! You always think of the most interesting combinations.

I’m a little confused by your rating system. I tried to find your FAQ (managed after I had to search for it) but all of the links are broken. Can you explain things to me? I’m not really understanding ‘product’ and ‘texture.’ I don’t know what product means at all, and texture is a little vague to me, I have no idea what a good texture is to you. I’m also not really sure how you detail application, what’s a full score to you?

I guess I really don’t understand what a full score in any category is, I don’t have a basis of comparison as I’ve never seen anyone else give letter grades to products instead of out of a 5 or 10. Nothing wrong with it, I’m just not entirely sure where products fall on the line since it’s so odd to me.

I’m sure somewhere you’ve posted an in depth analysis of your review system, but I’m having a very hard time navigating the site and as such I can’t find it. This is my first time visiting and there are a TON of links to go through, I haven’t got my bearings yet.

If you could provide the link I would have no trouble reading your explanation for myself so you wouldn’t have to repeat yourself I would appreciate it.

I don’t know what region you are in, but in the U.S., letter grades are usually assigned from a percentage system – e.g. a possible 50 points on a paper, you may have received 15/20 for sentence structure, 25/30 for content, which would give you 40/50 points possible – this is 80% or a B-.

Ah, I see thank you. I had stopped by another post, I think a Kat Von D one and it said somewhere above should be a link to the FAQ but it was an old review so it’s possible your site has changed since they time of that posting.

I live in the U.S. I’ve just never seen anyone else give grades to makeup. As a side note I’ve also never encountered A+ being 99-100 where I’m from A is 95-100 with 100+ being an A+ but I just looked it up on wiki (I know it’s not the best of sites) and it seems that other school systems use that too. Maybe it’s because I’ve been out of school for almost ten years so things have changed. Though I also do live in a rural setting so we could just do things differently here, lol.

Now that you’ve explained things it’s not a whole lot different from a number scale, just each number is changed with a certain grade. A 3/5 would be a C to me, it’s not horrible but you could find something better, I kinda get it now, thanks for explaining.

Now that I’ve read a bit more about how you review an F is given to a product if it doesn’t match what the company says it will, but is it possible for an F grade to be given to a ‘good’ product? Or are F products just straight up horrible in all sense of the word? Like, maybe a product didn’t match what the company stated but it’s actually a really good ‘x’ product, though I guess maybe that doesn’t happen too often, I’m only just getting into make up so I’m not really sure.

I’m happy to help! Definitely sounds like that might have been a very old review 🙂 We have had a few different rating systems over the years, but the current system has been in place for the last few years and is the most detailed of all the ones we’ve used, I would say!

I believe 98-100 is more typical for A+ range, but we moved the range up to 99-100 to ensure that A+ really reflected just off-the-charts, superb products.

I don’t know if there are that many F grades floating around for a genuinely good product, though it wouldn’t surprise me if there were a few! Usually, when companies are off the mark, they’ll make a ridiculous wear claim – like 24 hours – but the rest of the product will score well, which is usually enough to keep it from being an F (since it is, at most, 10 points, but if they say 24 and it makes it 12, I give 5 points). There are also products that say super pigmented that are very sheer or sheer that are rather pigmented, so you’ll see a reversal there.

The “pigmentation” metric is harder to understand until it’s apparent that I review from the brand’s claims. For example, if a brand says their lipstick is sheer, and it is sheer, then that would be 10/10 points. On the flip side, if the brand says super pigmented, and it is super pigmented, that’s also 10/10. I try to state what the brand claimed in either the intro paragraph or in the “formula overview” paragraph (bottom) if I’ve been reviewing the same formula often. There are some more popular products (like MAC Lipsticks or Eyeshadows) that I don’t write intros/overviews for as much, but you are always welcome to ask me to clarify if you are unsure!

Yes, it was an old review, I think her vida loca remix pallet as that’s the one I have so I wanted to see the score it got/swatches of the colours that I don’t personally use. I could be wrong because I also looked at some other reviews of her products, I only remember reading about the one I have though because I didn’t super care about the others, lol.

I see, thank you very much for answering my questions. I’ll keep in mind that you don’t mind going into a little more depth.

Lily is really interesting – it looks so yellow in the pan but applies anything but yellow – it’s such a pretty pink tinged beige and not at all what I’d have expected. I need to stop looking at this post – the longer I look at it, the more I start the whole “I can get that shade to work and I can ignore that pink and I really love…. and… and…” If I don’t stop, I’ll end up creating some justification for buying this! Stop me before I buy again…..

The shades in this palette are beautiful, too bad the pigmentation is off! I also agree that the packaging is bulky and excessive. Your eyeshadow looks for the palette are so beautiful that it makes me sad that I’ll be passing on it!

Ehhh I think I’ll pass on this one! I love urban decay palettes however this one did not wow me! Saved my wallet Christine 🙂 although the packaging is super cute, would looks great as décor in a bedroom or even a present for a friend!

Christine, I can’t decide which look I love more. Your choice of light pink liner on the bottom lash is so unexpected, but the combination of green shadow and light blue liner on the bottom lash line just makes your eyes pop. Awesome.

Your eye looks are sensational Christine. BUT – the palette is a big miss for me. There are too many mattes for my liking and they are not really great here. When compared to the Viseart Boehme palette – Viseart did a much better job of pulling off the colours – even though it is more expensive – you can use all the colours because it is so good. The only colour I really liked was Time.

I read the lacking is all cardboard, and the pans are cardboard and made to look like metal. How easy would these be to depot Christine? I think that will be the decision point for me. I’m such a damn sucker for UD and I want this mofo, but if depotting it isn’t an option I’m going to pass.

Bonnie, your LAST sentence there sums up what I’ve pretty much resolved to do. If this is still around in say late-ish June, UD will discount it, I believe, just to unload them all. That’s when I *may* pick it up. Because honestly, going backwards to Milk??? Bad enough I have to use Nyx Knight JEP for Naked Smoky’s blue-gray shades!

Why is it that the colors I’d be most interested in are duds? UD went way overboard with neutrals in the Gwen Stefani palette, sorry if that’s what she goes for but to be frank it was an easy pass because I have a ton of UD neutrals. And now for this one, the best performing shades are more neutrals. I wish UD would get with it and put a little more effort into new releases, especially the ones they claim are all new colors. It’s sad because UD is by far my favorite eyeshadow brand and they keep falling short with products that have the potential to be fantastic but are either boring, repeats plus a couple new shades, or total flops. I might consider this if it goes on sale, but I highly doubt it ever would because of the number of collectors out there who will buy it simply for the packaging. Not a chance here, that bulky thing would get in line for depotting. So looks like it’ll be another pass from me.

I’m always curious why brands use the thin matte + micro-sparkle formula, because it usually is harder to work with than a regular matte or a true satin product. I feel like having all of the brighter pops of color in that type of finish made it hard for the palette to be a winner.

I’m so unsure about this palette. My favourite colour is awful, of course, as it’s purple. But, there are quite a few really good shadows in the palette. Some really bad, I mean really, really bad. UD, please, come ON! I love Hatter, but I’d probably go mental trying to make it work. So, really undecided. I think I’ll just check it out when it makes it’s way here, and depending on the price I might get it. I love the colourful looks you did, using this. Creative, gorgeous and fun at the same time.

This looks lovely!! Would you happen to know if these shadows are made with the Pigment Infusion System or are the like the old school UD shadows? Salazen Grum looks similar to Sonic from Vice 3, just wondering since I didn’t see it on the dupe list? Thanks!

Ugh. If Metamorphosis was the only F, I might consider this. Periwinkle mattes are NOT easy to do, and I can forgive one shade out of several not being spectacular. I could pretend it was this palette’s ubiquitous black pan that I never touch. XD

However, the score is high enough overall, that I would pick it up at the right price. So we’ll see. If it sticks around long enough that it gets marked down like the Oz palettes or BoS IV did, I may get it later on.

Well it seems to have sold out everywhere pretty quick. I managed to get one mainly as my birthday was ‘everything Alice’ last week, and everyone knows I love shimmery eyeshadows. I’m pleased with it so far – the packaging especially – but as I love earthy tones with just occasionally colour, the range really brings out my blue eyes. For me, a quad or five-shadow, palette was less value and I’ve managed to get a good range so will use far more than the other two UD palettes I have. Not portable at all though, so quads still have their uses. Love Salazen Grum and Paradox, with Duchess as a base.

I am disappointed in this set….with my dark skin, I can’t do too many bright colors without looking ashy. The colors have to be specific. This, as beautiful as it is as a package, just don’t seem like it would work for me but it’s Alice and Wonderland so I want it for the nostalgia alone. I’m fighting with myself on this. The colors look great on your eyes but when applied to your skin swatches I could see only 3 that would pop on my skin. UGH……dilemmas….

So terribly disappointed. I’m a huge Alice fan.. since childhood.. and I so wanted this to be good. It’s clunky, ugly, and half the shadows are a joke in quality. It looks like any of the other Vice palettes. If they ever had an excuse to give us a palette full of those gorgeous duochromes I can’t think of a better time.. but just recycles of things we’ve already seen. It’s like they didn’t even try.

I’m a huge Alice fan so when I saw it was selling on Ulta I bought it (and two of the lip colors) on their website. I haven’t received them yet but when I do I’ll probably be returning them right away after seeing these swatches and some others. I wanted it mostly for the bright colors but most of them seem to be sub-par. Disappointing :c

Colors are beautiful always but then I know I probably won’t ever use all of them. Also, disappointed that the mattes are harder to blend. UD Beauty Junkies can order it today but I’m on the fence about getting it. For $60, I want them to be A+. I know someone who is a big Alice fan who’d appreciate getting this. Besides, I still have all of their other palettes that I have yet to touch. On a side note, Christine, do you know if the book they sent out is available anywhere else or were those specifically made for UD to send out to reviewers?

Dream On looks so pretty in the pan, I’m determined to make it work. I found that spraying some setting spray on a really dense brush and patting it on helped it show up a bit more, but still not all that I had hoped for. Finding a good combination looks like it’ll be a lot of work. Kinda disappointing because I feel that I could get a better shade in a Morphe palette for half of the price /:

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